Longing | Resource Guide


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In the OT, a key word for lust means to be attached to, to cling or join, to delight in, to long for, to lust, or to love someone. is to set one’s heart on something or someone. The word can mean to be attracted to, or take pleasure in someone. 

The word for ‘longing’ or ‘lust’ originally meant to have a strong, passionate desire for someone or something and was morally neutral. This longing, craving, or desire (epithymia) only has a negative meaning in the apostle Paul’s writings and in Mt 5:28. When referring to something neutral or good, epithymia means ‘desire, longing, craving’ but when it refers to something bad, it means excessive or forbidden desire. Hence, Vine points out that longing is moral unless it is not in line with God’s will. The beggar in Lk 16:21 longed to eat even crumbs; in Lk 22:15 Jesus longed to eat the Passover; and in 1 Pet 1:12 the angels long to understand salvation better. All of these are morally acceptable forms of longing.

Longing, then, becomes sinful lust if it is disobedience to God, a violation of His command in our thoughts, acts, wishes, or speech. God’s answer to evil longing is the Spirit. The man who walks by the Spirit has the power to resist evil desire (Gal 5:16) because the Spirit replaces desire as the determining power in his life (Eph 4:23). He can conquer it, if he constantly allows himself to be controlled by the Spirit of God.

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